Kevin Durant has seen everything the NBA has to offer.

Championships, free agency, heel turns. Durant’s storied career has run the gamut. He’s also a student of the game. Speaking from Suns practice on Friday afternoon, Durant spoke glowingly of Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. and deemed him an X-factor for their second-round playoff series.

He knew, for example, that Porter fell all the way to No. 14 in the 2018 draft where the Nuggets were, in Durant’s words, “lucky enough” to draft him. As Durant got to that part of Porter’s story, he smiled knowing how significant a piece Porter has been to Denver’s roster construct. And how, without that fortuitous turn of events, perhaps the Nuggets wouldn’t have been the No. 1 seed for the first time in franchise history this postseason.

Porter was a bit inconsistent in Denver’s first-round playoff series victory over the Timberwolves, but he did connect on over 42% of his 3-pointers. Against a Suns squad that doesn’t have as many defensive standouts as Minnesota, Durant might be right. Porter could play an outsized role.

“He got healthy now, got an opportunity to play with a team that’s playing for something, playing meaningful basketball every year, got a Hall of Famer he’s playing with (Nikola Jokic) as well to make the game a little easier for you, so sky’s the limit for him,” Durant said. “Still young in the game, still athletic after surgeries.”

After heaping praise on Porter, Durant re-routed and wished him a quiet second-round series.

“I don’t really know what X-factor really means,” Porter said when asked about it at Saturday’s shootaround ahead of Game 1, seemingly confused about the tone of Durant’s compliment.

There was nothing negative about his intentions, and perhaps Porter was just taken aback by the compliment prior to the start of the series.

Durant was also asked about Jokic and whether he considered him a point guard in a center’s body. At first, the future Hall of Famer hedged.

“Nah, I look at him more as a, nah, I wouldn’t say a point … well, I guess, yeah,” Durant said laughing.

“He can bring the ball up the court, he can orchestrate the offense, he can play in the post,” Durant said. “It’s no limit or ceiling that you can put on him. You can’t just call him a great passer or a great big man. He’s just a great basketball player. You put labels on guys you take away from them a little bit. Call him a point guard one second, call him a center one moment.”

Trash talk, this was not. Durant and the Suns know they’re facing a healthy and loaded Nuggets roster.